Finally Sinking In
by LifeLover22
Summary: This is my two-shot based off the Season 3 finale. It's late, but at least it's up before the actual premiere! Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! I have a two-shot for all you lovely people out there and this is rated M. Hope you enjoy the first part!**

**KONO'S POV**

She walks up the steps to the house slowly debating on whether or not to actually knock.

To her surprise, the door swings open before she even raises her hand.

"Kono?" Steve asks in surprise.

"Yeah, I'm back," I say quietly looking into his eyes.

His face breaks out in a wide smile as he pulls me into his arms.

"I kept my promise," I whisper into his ear.

Steve chuckles and pulls away looking me over as if he's searching for any injuries that might have occurred before coming to his doorstep. Grabbing my hand, he leads me into his house.

"Sit down," he commands. "Want anything to drink?"

"I could use a beer."

"Two beers coming right up."

He returns a few moments later with two beers in tow.

Handing one to me, Steve takes a seat next to me opening his own bottle and taking a drink.

"So, Chin called me, but I didn't get all the details. When did you get back, and why didn't I know about it?" Steve asks turning to look at me.

I pick at the label on my bottle keeping my eyes downcast.

"Um, I got back this afternoon around two and spent some time with Chin. I thought it would be safer not to let anyone back here know I was coming."

Steve nods his head and sets his bottle on the coffee table in front of us. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. Can I ask why you decided to come home now?"

I nod my head smiling. "Missed the island. Missed surfing everyday. Missed my job. Missed my family. Missed my friends. Missed Chin's calmness. Missed Danny's rants. Missed Kamekona's shrimp and shaved ice. Missed Max's terrible jokes. Missed girl days with Catherine. I think that's about all..."

"Oh really?" Steve says smirking. "I think you're forgetting a very important person in all of that."

I tap my chin in fake thought my eyes trained on the ceiling. "Oh yeah! I forgot to mention Charlie! I missed all of his awkwardness."

He nods his head but gets that evil look on his face. Taking the bottle out of my hand and placing it next to his, he turns back to me looking me up and down.

The next thing I know, I'm on the floor with Steve on top of me tickling me mercilessly.

"Steve!" I yelp trying to break free. "Stop!"

"Tell me you missed me," Steve commands smiling down at me.

I snap my mouth shut shaking my head and trying not to laugh.

"Tell me..." He repeats.

I still don't say anything until he finds that certain spot and I burst out laughing. "Fine, fine! Okay! Steve, I missed you!"

His hands still on my hips as his face brightens again. "Awww, I'm flattered."

Rolling my eyes, I push him off me. "You're so bossy, and you could at least say it back you know."

"I thought it was obvious when I made you promise you'd come back," Steve states pulling me onto my feet.

"It was," I say. "But saying it again wouldn't hurt. Since I'm back."

"Kono Kalakaua," Steve starts bringing me back against his chest. "I missed you so much; don't you dare leave like that again."

"Okay," I simply reply holding him close.

"Promise?"

I lift my head from Steve's shoulder looking into his eyes. "I find myself promising more to you in the last couple of months than I have to anyone in my whole life."

His eyebrows rise as he looks at me expectantly.

"I promise."

"Good," he states pulling me close again placing a kiss on the top of my head. "I really did miss you."

"I know. Don't worry; I missed you, too."

We stand like that for what feels like hours.

"Oh my God! Kono?" We hear from behind us.

"Cath!" I say breaking away from Steve to hug Catherine.

"What are you doing back?" She asks looking me over.

"I missed this place," I reply. "How are you?"

"Good, how are you?"

"I'm better now that I'm home," I say turning to smile at Steve.

He smiles back and makes his way over to us standing beside Catherine.

"Can I ask about Adam?" She asks watching my reaction.

I give her a reassuring smile. "Nothing to really tell. I just got tired of running. He understood. That's why he didn't ask me to go with him in the first place. He knew I wouldn't last long away from my family and friends and Five-0. "

"So you just left?" Steve asks now.

I look at him and nod my head. "I woke up one morning and realized that I was just going through the motions. Sure, I love Adam, and part of me always will. I feel terrible because the person you love should be the one who keeps you where you are even if its away from everyone and everything you love, but Adam didn't do that for me."

Catherine is looking at me sympathetically, and Steve is just staring at me with a blank expression.

Finally, Steve breaks the silence. "I'm going to go swimming," he says pulling out his wallet handing Cath a couple of bills.

"Steve, it's almost dark out."

"I know, Babe. I'll be fine. You two go out, have fun, and catch up. I'll see you later," he says to me giving me a small smile. "Glad to have you back."

He walks upstairs, I assume to change into more appropriate swimming apparel, as Catherine turns toward me. "Well, I guess we should go then."

I nod my head and smile turning towards the door. "We can take my car since its already been in use recently."

**K & S**

We go to a diner a couple miles away and order some pie and coffee. Who even cares that it's almost nine-thirty at night.

"You know he missed you a lot right?" Cath says once our food comes.

I nod my head. "So did half the island according to Chin."

Catherine smiles softly. "That's not what I meant. He missed you more than a lot."

She stops for a second picking at her piece of pie. "He missed you more than he should have for just being your boss.

"Cath-" I start, but she interrupts me.

"Kono, he's not just your boss. You and I both know that. And you're not just a coworker to him. I don't think you know that. When he made you promise to come back someday, you weren't promising to come back to the islands, to your family, or even to Five-0. You were promising to come back to him."

I sit silently taking in what she just said.

"He deserves to be happy, Kono. And if you make him happy, then I can't stand by and see him completely unhappy with his current life. Okay, so he's not completely unhappy, but he needs to live a life without regrets. He loves you, Kono, whether he admits it or not."

I chuckle lightly maybe even nervously. "How did you come up with this, Cath?"

Catherine takes a drink from her mug and looks at me before continuing. "There were a couple of things that led up to this conclusion," she explains.

"Enlighten me," I tell Catherine urging her to continue.

"Well, I didn't really pay attention before you left so I'm just guessing he must have been a little overprotective when going into missions?" Catherine says in a questioning voice hinting at me to confirm or deny her analysis.

"Mostly just when I went undercover, but all three of the guys act like that."

She nods her head. "Okay, what about after a takedown? He asks if you're okay, sometimes even looks you over to make sure you're telling the truth."

"Yeah..." I say furrowing my brows. "...but again, we all make sure the others are okay."

"Those were just my observations to prove he cares about you. Which he should," Catherine hurriedly finishes. "That's not what I'm saying. My point is, that when you left that night, the look in Steve's eyes was... I don't even know what. The best way I can describe it, is broken, but there was more to it than just that. They were also lost like if he had no idea how to even move forward from that moment."

I stop her there. "Catherine, all of you guys looked like you wanted to jump onto that boat with me."

She smiles and grabs my hand giving it a light squeeze. "That is also not the only thing that got me thinking. When I figured this all out, there were things that I looked back on just to prove that I was, am, right."

Letting go of my hand, she takes a bite of pie and gestures to mine. "Eat."

I look down and suddenly don't feel so hungry.

"Look, I know you're appetite probably isn't as strong as it was when we first got here, but Steve is paying for this."

I sigh and roll my eyes at her smiling. "Why to make a girl feel guilty."

Cath shrugs her shoulders. "It's a gift."

We finish off our pie in silence as a waitress comes around with a coffee pot. Catherine nods her head at both of our cups, and the waitress fills them.

Nodding her head with thanks, Catherine picks up her cup, takes a drink, and moves her eyes back to mine. "Is this finally all sinking in?"

I look down at my mug playing with the handle. "What happened that caused you to put all these pieces together?" I ask softly.

She takes a deep breath. "There was a case that Five-0 worked while you were gone that I helped with. It included local surfers being taken from the water of private or deserted beaches. All of the surfers were of literal Hawaiian descent. No mainlanders or people that have just lived here all their lives like Steve. Anyway, all the victims were also female. First, we thought it was a human trafficker. Then, we expected it to be a serial killer. All of these possibilities that we had on this case, though they were good and logical, were always proven wrong. The guys found the girls in a cave in the jungle after one of them "dropped" their wedding ring near the entrance to a trail. How the guys found it or were even looking for something at that exact spot is beyond me, but these girls, women, I guess, were all on the same circuit as you. When Chin mentioned this to Steve, he went irate saying that we had to find this son of a bitch or you would never be safe here. That's when I realized that he was practically counting the days until you finally decided to call, or text, or e-mail, maybe even show your face. We caught the guy who was behind all of this. He tried to be on the circuit himself but never made it. Once he was denied the spot, his girlfriend, a Hawaiian beauty too, left him. The man claims he wasn't going to kill them, just make them suffer through the rest of their lives. Then we asked, if there were so many of them, why didn't they just attack him all at once? He obviously couldn't fight off all of them. The answer came from the women themselves. They said, that if they were to get out of this alive without the help of police, they would be completely different from before. Their families would have to go through not only them being gone, but what it did and how it changed their personalities. These women were more concerned about their families and putting them through hell twice instead of their own safety. We all know you would do the exact same thing if it came down to it. Having faith in the cops to get you out unharmed. You would choose that option over getting hurt and having your family see you beaten and bloody. And that _killed_ Steve. The stupid things you would, and will do, to save family are possibilities these women were just throwing in his face. They reminded him of you. Their looks and their logic. He was terrified, Kono. Steve was _terrified_. He looked at the photos of the battered women for weeks with this seriousness in his eyes that said he would never be the one to put you in that kind of danger. Then, he realized, he already has. All of the undercover stints he put you in could have ended in a snap of a finger. The outcome: You being dead. That killed him all over again."

I sat in silence through all of this just letting it sink in.

I don't know what to say.

"Plus, he practically kissed you tonight when you came over. Chin told him you would probably be making an appearance sometime soon so he sat next to that door for an hour until your car door slammed. He watched you walk up those steps and hesitate. I think Steve was actually surprised he opened the door before you knocked."

I shake my head. "He hugged me. He didn't even come close to kissing me."

Catherine just laughs. "Honey, when he was looking you over for injuries, he was also debating on whether or not to kiss you. Obviously, he settled for just holding your hand."

"You watched all of that?" I ask stunned.

"Not totally. I watched some of it. I left when he went to go get beers and came back when I heard the rumble of voices beneath my feet stop for like ten minutes. Figured it was a safe bet that the talk was over."

I nod my head. "I should get home. I've got a lot of unpacking to do."

"Just, please, remember what I said. Steve deserves to be happy and so do you."

"I will," I reply as we collect our things.

After taking Cath home, I head to my house.

"Well that was emotionally draining," I sigh to myself pulling into the driveway.

Trust me.

I will never forget what Catherine just told me.

**The next part will be up soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The last little installment of this story is here! Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy!**

**STEVE'S POV**

It's just past midnight when I walk in the door trying not to startle anybody who might be home enough to make them shoot me in the face without double checking who it is first.

"Hey," her voice greets softly not startled at all as she walks into the living room. "I just dropped Cath off like two hours ago so she's not here."

She closes the door behind me, which I left open without realizing it, and makes her way over to the kitchen pulling out two beers and handing one to me.

"That's not why I'm here, and you know it."

She nods her head slowly tilting it back a bit to empty some of the bottle into her mouth. "I know a lot of things. Doesn't mean I know everything."

"Well," I reply taking a drink of my own beer. "If Cath was telling the truth, then I shouldn't need to tell you. And if Cath was telling the truth, then it should be quite obvious as to why I'm here."

She shakes her head. "Not so obvious."

"Then let me make sure you know _exactly_why I'm here," I say lowly placing both of our beers on the counter."

"Steve-" I cut her off by slamming her against the refrigerator covering her mouth with mine.

Yanking her pants down, I insert two fingers as her moan fills the otherwise empty apartment.

Then she moves her lips to my ear whispering, "If you wanted to fuck me, McGarrett, all you had to do was ask."

I instantly release her walking across the short distance between her refrigerator and counter bracing myself on the sink with my arms.

Her panting is the only thing heard for minutes as I take a deep breath. I turn the faucet on splashing cold water over my face.

"To be fair, that's not what I meant to happen," I say still facing away from her.

I hear her snort. "Yeah, because pinning me to my fridge and jamming your fingers into me always means you want to help me finish the castle I started building with blocks. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm four years old."

I turn around to see her eyes on fire.

"Kono..." I warn.

"Don't you "Kono" me. I know my name."

"Please, cover up."

"Excuse me?!" She shouts.

"Why are you so upset right now?" I ask.

She chuckles dryly. "Maybe it's because the guy who just stripped me is now ordering me to cover up. Maybe it's because I found out some interesting things about what's been going on here while I was gone. Maybe it's because you decided to shove your tongue down my throat before explaining any of this to me."

"I'm sorry," I apologize rubbing my face with my hands lowering my eyes to the floor. "I just... Catherine just sprang some stuff on me that I realized but just hadn't accepted yet."

"Well, you better damn well figure it out before you try something like that ever again. Now leave."

My head snaps up to meet hers.

"You're not welcome here right now, Steve. I'm not going to ask you again."

I open my mouth to say something, but she stops me.

"Now."

And that's when I leave. Not because she said that word one more time but because her voice had the slightest crack to it. I'd put her through enough. The humiliation of bursting into tears in front of me wouldn't help that situation either.

**S & K**

Let's just say I didn't get much sleep last night after I got home.

From about one in the morning until three, I call Kono every ten minutes.

The first six calls ring and ring and then go to voicemail. The next six go straight to voicemail.

I leave a voicemail every time.

It's a good thing work has been slow recently.

Kono's not coming back until Wednesday since she flew in on a Saturday.

The sight that I meet when I walk into HQ has me seriously questioning if today is really Monday.

"Hey Babe," Danny says as I walk in.

Chin turns around from the smart table, "Morning Boss."

"Good morning," I reply my eyes never leaving the figure standing next to Chin.

She doesn't register he's in the room. Just continues to read what's on the screen.

I force myself to look around the office. "What do we got?" I ask when my eyes land back on the table.

"Bar kidnappings most likely sex trade," Chin briefs me.

"We all know how that assumption panned out last time though," Danny states.

Kono's shoulders instantly tense, but she doesn't make a move to turn and address anything.

"Okay," I say. "Do we know how any of this happens?"

"There are cameras obviously that caught all three girls going out with the same guy," Chin says. "The thing is, his head is down and covered with a hood. Hence why Kono is here."

"We can break the Rookie back in with an undercover job, and she'll be good to go on Wednesday," Danny adds.

"No," I say simply. "We can find someone else."

Finally, Kono acknowledges I'm here by spinning around on her heel and sending me her best death glare.

"Am I missing something here?" Danny asks looking between Kono and me.

"No," we both answer; our eyes never wavering from each other.

Then Kono speaks up. "I will be going undercover, and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

"Kono, you will NOT be going undercover, and there is nothing you can do to start it."

Her eyes flash with more anger as she walks towards me. "You can't stop me from doing my job."

I stand there with my arms crossed over my chest. "It's not your job until Wednesday so I'm not holding you back from anything."

"Damn it, Steve! I am sick and tired-"

"Cuz," Chin says calmly placing his hand on her shoulder. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, Chin," Kono answers. "It's just Steve being the usual overprotective prick."

"Wow! Okay," Danny says rubbing his hands together. "So, obviously they have realized their feelings for each other, but I'm guessing Steve did something stupid, and now they're fighting like four-year-olds."

"That's the second time that age has been brought up in reference to us," I state.

Kono stares at me mouth agape. "I cannot believe you just said that," she pauses turning to Danny. "And yes, he did do something stupid."

Danny turns to Chin. "They obviously need some time alone. Do you advise sending them home or keeping them here in the center of HQ while we go to our respective offices to watch the show?"

Chin moves his eyes between us. "I say we wait until after tonight, and Kono comes back."

"Chin," I say sternly. "She's not going."

"The hell I'm not," Kono says coldly before Chin can answer. "I'm going whether you're behind me or not."

I stand there and look around at my team. MY team. A team that's supposed to listen to me. "Then I guess you're going without me," I retort walking into my office and slamming the door.

Five minutes later, Danny walks in shutting the door behind him. "Wanna tell me why Kono's so pissed at you that if looks could kill you'd be dead an infinite amount of times with just one glance?"

I sigh heavily. "Not really Danny."

"Okay, so you're going to make this difficult. Did you kill her dog?"

"What?" I ask my head snapping up from the paperwork my eyes were trained on. "She doesn't own a dog."

"Then what did you do Steven? Because the only thing worse than killing someone's beloved pet is killing their family, and I highly doubt you were _that_stupid. You know, unless you played with her heart."

I stay silent because honestly, what else am I suppose to say.

"You mother fucker. That's what you did!" Danny yells.

"Danny," I say holding up my hand. "I did not kill any of her family."

Danny chuckles in fake amusement. "You son of a bitch. Do not joke about this! You played with her heart didn't you?!"

"Not necessarily," I answer calmly.

"Not necessarily? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means: I don't actually know what I did. I know I did something; I just don't know what that something is."

"You are a sorry piece of man. Now tell me what happened so I can tell you what you did wrong."

"Catherine told me that she noticed the way I was acting around Kono. So after Cath left, I went to Kono's. She played dumb to the whole situation when she just got back from a diner with Catherine, and I know they discussed this... thing; you know how much I hate it when people play dumb."

"Actually, that's me," Danny interrupts.

"Whatever! It's a general human characteristic that we hate it when others play dumb when we know they know exactly what we're talking about. Anyway, we were talking, and she played dumb. So I uh, slammed her against her, um, refrigerator and might have-"

"No! If you are going to continue that sentence with any type of sexual actions, I swear to God, I don't want to hear it."

"Okay," I say. "Then she said something that... upset me."

"Upset you?" Danny asks.

I sit there silently.

"Oh, it was sexual wasn't it? Of course it was. Don't worry about even answering that. Continue."

I roll my eyes at the mini conversation he just had with himself. "What she said stopped me in my tracks, and then I said something that offended her. Dealing with sexual stuff and it pissed her off. She told me to leave, but I didn't move until I heard her voice crack."

"WHAT?! You made Kono cry? Nobody makes Kono cry unless there's a legitimate reason like, I don't know, death! Why didn't you apologize like a normal person?"

"I did, Danny! I left twelve voicemails in two hours at one in the morning! What else was I supposed to do?"

"Not pissing her off would have been a good start," Danny sighs. "The second thing you shouldn't have done is make her cry. The final thing would probably be that you shouldn't tell Kono when or how to do her job. The job that we both know, if not everyone on this island knows, she is amazing at."

I sigh heavily. "Danny, I can't just keep putting her in danger like that."

"Steven, what are you talking about? The only danger that you put her in appears when you threaten her to go with or without you because you know she will choose to go without just to prove to everyone that she is good at what she does and can handle working with a bunch of guys! One of which is a Navy fucking SEAL!"

"Danny! Putting her undercover risks those few seconds between life and death for her. Anything could go wrong and the next thing we know, she's in the forest somewhere."

Danny sits in silence. "This is about that surfing case a month back isn't it? The women reminded you of Kono," he says with realization flashing in her eyes.

I rub my face with my hands. "I just can't lose her."

"As far as I can tell, you don't have her to begin with because you're an idiot. Now go talk to her."

**S & K**

I rap lightly on her door.

She looks up, and a flash of anger shows in her eyes.

She doesn't motion me in, but I enter anyway.

"We need to talk."

"You're version or mine," she bites out throwing her pen on her desk.

I stand silently looking her over.

She stands up and gets in my personal space. "If you want to fuck me, McGarrett, all you have to do is ask."

I step back running my hands through my hair. "Would you stop that?! I came here to talk not for permission to fuck you. If I wanted to do that right now, I would do it with no permission needed."

"So what did you come for? To tell me that I'm not allowed to do my job. Maybe you're even suspending me. I don't know what to think anymore because you seem to be very overprotective most of the time and make me promise to stay near you then, the next thing I know, you're pushing me away!"

My anger has now gotten the best of me.

"Did you ever try to figure out why I'm overprotective?" I ask.

"You don't give me a chance to figure you out! One minute you're pulling me close telling me you missed me, and the next you're telling me to go home because I don't start work for two days," she explains sourly.

"Fine. Then I'll make it easier for you."

"Enlighten me already! I have to get ready for tonight."

"Any other conversation you would be begging to drag out. One of the most important ones we will probably ever have is taking place right now, and you're brushing it off like its nothing!" I shout unexpectedly loud.

"Well if it's so important," Kono yells just as loud moving her face centimeters from mine. "Then why don't you just fucking say it already!"

"I LOVE YOU!"

Everything falls silent, and you could probably hear an ant walking across the floor.

Kono's mouth hangs open.

"I love you," I whisper. "There, I said it. Happy?"

A smile moves across her lips. "Finally," she replies jumping up and hoisting herself on my hips.

I smile at her wrapping my arms around her waist. "It was this easy all along?"

"This easy," she replies nodding. "Oh, and I love you, too."

I chuckle as she tightens her legs around me and pulls my head to meet hers.

The kissing continues as we make our way out of the office with Danny yelling something like: "Finally, he does something right! Ew! But right."

The locker room is the closest place with privacy I can think of. Entering the room, I move my face to her ear. "Can I fuck you now?"

"Fuck away, McGarrett."

**Thanks for reading! This was my first M rated story so I hope it wasn't too big of a disappointment!**


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